UPDATED: Are You a Young African Entrepreneur with Initiative & Innovation? Apply for the Anzisha Prize & Stand a Chance to Win $75,000

Are you a young African entrepreneur with an idea and a plan that can change your community and even Africa at large? Then this is for you. The Anzisha Prize is Africa’s foremost youth entrepreneurial awards which reward young African entrepreneurs who are making a difference by transforming both the continent and their communities.

Hosted by the African Leadership Academy in conjunction with The MasterCard Foundation – the Anzisha Prize celebrates initiative and innovation. The prize is geared towards exceptional young entrepreneurs who “are leading by example and underscores their ability to significantly shape the future of Africa.”

Here’s an excerpt from the press release:

There is also a $10 000 USD Energy Prize in addition to the $75 000 cash prize. The Energy Prize will be awarded to an applicant who demonstrates ingenuity in developing sustainable renewable energy sources. The Anzisha Prize is open to entrepreneurs from around the African continent aged between 15 and 22. Applications close on April 15, 2013. Applicants can download the online application form from the Anzisha Prize website www.anzishaprize.org and email the completed form to prize@anzishaprize.org. Individuals, teachers and organisations are being called on to visit the Anzisha website to nominate young entrepreneurs in their communities.

Finalists will win an all-expense paid trip to the African Leadership Academy (ALA) in Johannesburg, South Africa, to attend a week long entrepreneurship conference and awards gala. While there, they will be taught by ALA’s renowned Entrepreneurial Leadership faculty as well as experienced business mentors. Winners will share $75,000 USD, courtesy of The MasterCard Foundation, and be given networking and learning opportunities to take their projects to the next level.

Twenty-one- year-old Andrew Mupuya of Uganda was announced as the grand prize winner of last year’s Anzisha Prize for his paper bag production company, Youth Entrepreneurial Link Investments.